Introducing Psychlo Mom – The Calm Before the Storm and a Recipe for Kick-Some-Ass Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies to placate and energize young ’crossers, via flickr by thepinkpeppercorn

We couldn’t be more excited to bring you Psychlo Mom’s fresh voice. She represents a crucial segment of the ’cross community – the parents who nurture the up-and-coming generation of Junior racers. This year Psychlo Mom will be going above and beyond the call, as she’s bringing Anthony Grand, a Swiss rider, into her home. Anthony Grand will be joining her son, Julz Meier, and fellow Swiss national Valentin Scherz in riding for the Cyfac-Champion System p/b Revolution Wheelworks team. The development-focused program is the team for the Philadelphia Cyclocross School.

It’s nearly time for her to transfer her identity from normal working mom to Psychlo Mom as the season nears. To help others in a similar predicament, she offers up her wit and a recipe for oatmeal cookies. This is installment #1, and we eagerly anticipate more.

by Psychlo Mom

By way of introduction: As far as my own cycling, I honestly ride a trash-picked refurbished bike with a hula girl on the handlebars to Radnor Middle School [in the Philadelphia area], where I teach Language Arts. During cyclocross season, I race to the Whole Foods store near Wayne, Pennsylvania. I can cook – well. And I think nutritious food can make people ride fast and feel happy. I see this blog as a place to share a parent’s/cyclocross supporter’s perspective and some healthy recipes for the season. There are tons of people like me who don’t race, but we’re IN the race scene, whether we like it or not. Mostly I’ve found there’s a lot to like about this sport. Sure beats travel soccer!

Yeah, life is good now. ’Cross season starts in a few weeks…WAIT! Hold on a minute!

Lemme describe this tiny oasis of my life that is Pre-Cyclocross Season – this beautiful little piece of inner peace that is a few weeks from becoming full-blown PSYCHLO-MOM.

Presently, we’re setting up a sweet room upstairs for my Swiss Cyclocross son (Ya gotta love alliteration in this sport!). Next week Anthony I-Don’t-Even-Know-His-Last-Name moves in for ’cross season. So now I don’t have to feed and schlep and feed and smell and feed one teenager during ’cross season – I get another rider who “Can’t wait to come in America!”…(No lie, guys.)

This place is so Zen right now: cicadas are singing, [local NPR affiliate] XPN is blasting, birds are chirping on the feeder, iced cold Tazo tea is on the table next to me. Yoga this morning kicked my ass. The teacher talked about “seeing from your heart.” That sounds good, right?

“No matter what comes to you, you can always choose to respond through love.” God, that sounds amazing, doesn’t it?

Believe me, while I’m sitting on my porch watching my neighbor fetch balls for his two dumb dogs, I can honestly aspire to look at the world through a loving heart. OK, sorry, the dogs are “overly-enthusiastic,” not dumb. See, I can do this! Until I have to trip over multiple pairs of bike shoes, smell some sweaty kit that’s been balled up in a corner for two days too many, put enough calories into two of the skinniest biker boys you ever saw and manage to not turn into a fat tire myself. Oh yeah, did I mention the mud?

So, to all the Psychlo Moms out there, enjoy what remains of your sweet summertime. To my boyos: Here we go. I hope it’s fucking great. Ride hard. Namaste.

Here’s a recipe for Kick-Some-Ass Oatmeal Cookies:

¾ cup + 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 2/3 cups old-fashioned oats

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 1/3 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

½ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups golden raisins

1 package Heath Bar chips

1 package dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or use nonstick baking sheets.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and oats. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown and granulated sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla. At low speed, stir in the flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the raisins, nuts, Heath Bar chips and chocolate chips.

3. Drop the dough by tablespoon portions, 2” apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes. I like ‘em crispy, so I keep them in until they’re deep golden brown. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Or until your ’crossies grab ’em.

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